More than Conquerors
Romans 8:37

Introduction.

Whenever I am given the privilege and opportunity to share the Gospel to seekers,

• I tell them not to believe everything that I say, but instead they need to search the scriptures because their faith comes from the word of God not from me. (Faith comes from hearing.  Romans 10:17).
• The goal of the study is for them to obtain faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior,
• Therefore, we start the lesson by learning about the prophecies about Jesus Christ the Messiah (savior) as foretold in the Old Testament and how these were fulfilled in Jesus Christ in the New Testament. 

• Then we read about the miracles that Jesus Christ performed during His ministry; giving them a stronger foundation for their faith,

• Then we read the parables of Jesus Christ - comparing the Kingdom of God with anecdotes of everyday life. (Jesus explained His kingdom using ordinary events for ordinary folks to understand. He spoke about fishing, farming, vineyards, and the like)

During the study I encourage them to take the lessons to heart, because when they finally come to the Kingdom of God,

• God does not expect them to sit down on the pews with folded hands, and just go through the motions.
• God expects every Christian to serve in His Kingdom. There is much to do, there’s work in every hand.  Like the message in the hymn “Lord Send Me)

There is great joy when a lost sinner responds to the Gospel by saying: "I want to be baptized". Just like the incident with the Ethiopian Eunuch in the book of Acts in Chapter 8, when the Ethipian finally understood the Gospel, and asked: “Here is much water, what hinders me to be baptized?”

After their conversion, we schedule a follow up class where I teach them about:

• The Church, the body of Christ
• Fellowship: Communion, Prayer, Giving
• About their work of sharing the Gospel to others

Reminding them that they need to be equipped with teachings that will make them grow and mature. They need to read their Bibles regularly and attend Bible Studies offered by the Church leadership so that with the help of the Holy Spirit whom they received after baptism, they will have a deeper understanding about the will of God in their new lives.

“Always be prepared” Peter said in I Peter 3:15, “to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that have”. Meaning, we should be able to share to others about the faith that we have in Jesus Christ.

When we share the Gospel to others, we are actually engaged in warfare against the forces of Satan. Satan does not want us to spread the Gospel, and he is doing everything he can to hinder us from spreading the Gospel. We are at war: not  a physical war, but a spiritual war against the forces of evil.

Most of the times, we are hesitant to do the work of spreading the good news because we are intimidated by the forces of Satan around us. But let us be encouraged the words of Paul in Romans 8:33-37 when he said:

• Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword separate us from Christ?
• No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

We are more than conquerors because Jesus Christ is with us.

With this thoughts in mind, let us consider 3 things:

I – Let us Get ready for the Battle
We are the Lord’s army on earth, under our Commander In Chief, Jesus Christ.

• Jesus has given us authority to wage war in the SPIRITUAL REALMS to advance His Gospel.
• Again, go back to the verse that tells us about the Great Commission of Jesus Christ for us in Mt 28:18-20

• All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely, I am with you always to the very end of this age.
• Just in the same manner that you were saved, in the same manner you shall teach.

• Satan understands the battle. He knows that when the Gospel advances, he and the fallen angels will lose.
• Therefore, the BATTLE rages for the souls of humanity, Satan seeks to keep these souls as captives in the darkness, while Christ through His people chooses to FREE these CAPTIVES.
• Let us not depend on our leaders to fight the battle for us. Our leaders equip us, encourage us, but they cannot fight the battle for us. We have Jesus Christ on our side. We fight the battle as one army.
• Do not think that your offering or giving on Sundays is to support them to do the battle for us as we sit down, watch, go through the motions, and worse of all use our time and resources in worldly PURSUIT. Remember that we are giving to God, and God in turn supports them. Together, let us fight the battle against the evil one, Satan.

 By His Spirit, He provided us with the armor of God so that we can defend ourselves from the flaming arrows of Satan and also to move forward with the Spirit’s sword to conquer the strongholds of Satan.

Please turn your Bibles to Ephesians 6:1-18.

• Be strong in the Lord, put on the armor of God so that can stand against the schemes of the Devil.
• Our enemy is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
• This is why Paul said: We are more than conquerors. When we share the Gospel, the forces of evil get nervous. It takes more than conquerors to set a captive free from the slavery of sin!

Many different interpretations of the armor of God have been offered, but these are the things that should not be ignored:

• Stand firm with the belt of truth (v 14)

• The belt is not an ornament. The belt bound the other pieces together and gave the soldier freedom of movement.
• The center of our armor is truth. (John 17:17). The word of God is the truth. Jesus said: “Sanctify them with by the truth; your word is truth”.
• It is not difficult to explain the truth. It is when we speak falsehood, or doctrines of men that make it difficult to reach out to others.
• Preachers or groups who preach falsehood, will one way or the other, find that their teaching will not agree with other scriptures. Therefore, they teach another lie, and another lie. It is no wonder that some groups have another book or a doctrine of human ideas on top of the Bible. These false teachers do not encourage their blind followers to read the Bible, because the truth will expose their lies!
• We do not fear the truth. We preach it! We encourage our members to read the Bible. It is not difficult to explain the truth.

• Breastplate of Righteousness (14)

• The breastplate of the Roman soldier was used to protect the heart and other vital organs.
• In Psalms 119:11 we read that:
• “ I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”.
• Satan will always accuse us of something in his wily scheme to break our relationship with God. If we live a righteous life, we can defend our hearts from the wild accusations of Satan.
• We were declared right with God through Jesus Christ when we obeyed the Gospel (Romans 3:22)
• Our conscience has been cleansed. Our sins were washed away. Satan cannot use our past sins to keep us in his fold, because all our sins were forgiven.

• Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. (v 15)
• The Roman sandals are made of several layers of leather and heavily studded  with hollow-headed nails. Strips of cloth or fur were sometimes placed inside the sandals, and they were fastened to the foot by ankle thongs.
• The sandals would give the soldier a firm footing during battle, and designed to make it difficult to walk backwards.
• Our footing must be firm, not hesitant. It must be supplied by the Gospel of peace (Romans 10:15 – read):
• How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! (translate: JOY)

• We should not retreat (Hebrews 10:39)

• “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved”.

• Shield of Faith (v16)

• The Roman shields were composed of leather.
• The shield was used against flaming arrows of the evil one.
• Through Christ, we obtained faith (Romans 10:17)
• We need to continue living in faith
• All the things that we do in fellowship, prayer, and communion are steps to make our faith strong to overcome temptations and trials.
  
• Helmet of Salvation (v 17)
• The Roman headgear was generally bronze, fitted inside with an iron skullcap line with leather or cloth.
• We need to remember that by the grace of God we were saved. The grace of God is our helmet that protects us from destruction.  This is a wonderful reminder that we were saved, not by our righteous works, but by the grace of God.

• The Sword of the Spirit (v 17)
• The sword is an offensive armor. The sword was a double-edged weapon about 2 feet long and 2 inches wide. It was used for stabbing rather than slashing and designed for close fighting.
• As we have strong defense, it gives a better chance of attacking the strongholds of Satan.

• Whenever we share the Gospel, we are in a close fight against Satan, and again, as long as we preach the truth of the Gospel, we will prevail against the forces of evil, with Jesus Christ on our side. We are more than CONQUERORS. 

II – Fighting The Battle
Speaking of Defense and Offense.

The football season is on. It is an exciting game to watch. It is a fact that in order to win, a team must have a good DEFENSE and a good OFFENSE.

In a football game, the team that can successfully defend itself from its opponent has a better chance of bringing the ball to a touchdown.

In our Christian life, God through His Spirit has given us the armor of God to defend ourselves. Additionally, He has provided us with the Sword of the Spirit as a weapon to conquer the strongholds of Satan and become victorious. We can attack the forces of evil more effectively when we successfully defended ourselves strongly.

What are Satan’s strongholds? Please turn your Bibles to 2 Cor 10:3-5

3 – For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh
4- For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of this world), but mighty in God for pulling down STRONGHOLDS
5- casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

The stronghold of Satan is in every lost sinner. Even as we are Christians, Satan may still have his strongholds in our life. We need to get rid of these strongholds in order to preach the word more effectively with power from the Spirit.

We need to pull down these strongholds of Satan in our lives, because the evil one uses these weaknesses to hinder our desire to preach the Gospel.

When I was a young in the faith:

• I was full of enthusiasm that I was so encouraged to share the Gospel to others. However, I was hindered from doing so, because I haven't shaken the habit of smoking, and drinking beer here and there. However, I continued to attend Church programs and activities that added to my spiritual knowledge and encourage me to apply these knowledge into my life.
• It came to a point when I had to make a decision:
• Whether I would devote my time to work in the Kingdom of God, or continue to be a part-time Christian
• I prayed to God to help me fight against my addiction to cigarettes and reasoned with Him, that I want to effectively share the Gospel
• I was resolved to quit smoking and drinking, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I was able to control my body to stop my addiction to cigarettes, and the habit of drinking liquor and beer every now and then.
• It gave me more confidence to share the word of God to others because they can now see what a wonderful change there has been in my life. Through the Holy Spirit I conquered these strongholds of Satan in my life.

III – The Joy of Sharing the Gospel

In Romans 10:15, Paul said: “Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” Isaiah 53:1)

• What did Paul mean when he talked about beautiful feet?
• I would just imagine this to mean that there is joy in the hearts of those who share the Gospel knowing that what they are doing pleases God. They used their feet not only to go from one place to another, but they used their faith to walk the extra mile to seek the lost and proclaim the Good News!

Sharing the Gospel is not always a pleasant experience especially so when people insult you, revile you, and make fun of you:

But let us be encouraged by the words of Peter in I Peter 4:14: “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of Glory and of God rests on you”. Isn’t that wonderful?

There is joy when seekers understand the words of God, scripture after scripture and slowly build up their faith in Jesus Christ. You can see the glow in their eyes, as they continue to thirst for the words of  Jesus Christ.

Finally, when a sinner responds to the Gospel by faith,  repentance, and baptism, it brings wonderful joy to the Church! Even the angels in heaven rejoice!

CONCLUSION

We learned that we have that great task of spreading the Gospel in order to bring those who are still in the darkness to the Kingdom of God.

We also learned that this is a direct command from Jesus Christ

We also learned that by the Spirit we are provided the armor of God to defend ourselves from the evil one and as a weapon against the forces of evil in this world.

The question now is:

What hinders you to share the Gospel? What hinders you to fight the battle against the forces of evil? What are the strongholds of Satan in your life that you need to tear down with the help of the Holy Spirit?

Jesus Christ is with us all the way! Let us examine ourselves and consider the things that are hindering us from sharing the Gospel. I do hope that the lessons that we learned tonight encourage us all to take action and join the battle against Satan and his evil forces.

After all, Paul said: “We are more than conquerors.”

If you want to learn more about the Gospel and have that desire to make Jesus Christ as the foundation of faith and of your life, we invite you to study the lessons that we offer at http://www.tobechristian.org.

If you happen to be in Las Vegas, please give me a call. My number is 702-249-2553 or 702-656-2241. All I ask is one hour lesson each day, for 3 or 4 days. Many of those who truly seek the truth have heard about Jesus Christ but need to know and hear His words that will give them faith. We will study the Gospel using a Seeker's Guide that will help you connect the dots and discover the mystery of the Gospel.

TERRY B DENIS